Leghold trapping
Leg-hold traps capture animals in a set of jaws, holding the animal in place. This can cause pain and distress to the animal, and as such leg-hold traps are not permitted for operational feral cat control in Western Australia and must only be used with an appropriate Animal Ethics Permit.
The use of leg-hold traps in Western Australia is not permitted as an operational method. Groups may seek special exemption to use leg-hold traps for research purposes if they have an Animal Ethics Permit and can show risk mitigation for other species in the area.
If granted permission to use leg-hold traps, PestSmart provide a standard operating procedure for the trapping of feral cats using padded-jaw traps.
If you wish to trap for feral cats, another option is using cage traps.
- Leg-hold traps are not permitted for feral cat control in Western Australia, under the Animal Welfare Act section 19(2)(b), as they are considered inhumane.
- Approval must be granted by the Animal Ethics Committee to use leghold traps for research purposes. Options for obtaining an Animal Ethics Approval include: collaboration with a university or DBCA, who can submit an application to their own Animal Ethics Committees, or independently via DPIRD’s new Community Animal Ethics Committee (contact [email protected] ).
Further Reading
Read more about trapping in our Bibliography
Image credits on this page
Judy Dunlop
